


killer instinct

by seratonins



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Angst, Awkwardness, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Non-Graphic Violence, Possibly Unrequited Love, Slow Burn, Spies & Secret Agents, also a mystery with the romance cause mysteries are FUN!!!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27053230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seratonins/pseuds/seratonins
Summary: “Jihyo,” Sana says, the hint of a smile on her lips. “Did you just fall for me?”Jihyo rolls her eyes. "Can you stop flirting with me? I got shot.""Only on your foot!"Jeongyeon has to save the president's daughter. Sana and Jihyo bicker about what to get each other for Christmas. Nayeon stops a bomb. What else can a fic have?OR, Super Secret TWICE Agency is hired by the President of Taiwan to protect his daughter, Chou Tzuyu, after someone attempts to take her life. Jeongyeon is assigned as her bodyguard, Sana and Jihyo embark on a mission to find the hitman, and Mina and Nayeon are forced to join forces despite the fact they hate each other.
Relationships: Chou Tzuyu/Yoo Jeongyeon, Established Kim Dahyun/Son Chaeyoung, Im Nayeon/Myoui Mina, Minatozaki Sana/Park Jisoo | Jihyo
Comments: 16
Kudos: 216





	1. PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE:

on the alley

Sana licks the champagne off her lips. “What exactly am I looking for here?”

The party around her is in full swing. There at some high end club in Itaewon; people dancing on the dance floor, the bar is busy, and she’s had to turn down three very drunk and insistent guys with tank tops and a cool girl with green hair (that one hurt, she had a cute smile). She passingly thinks that Chaeyoung would hate this place if she were here.

They’ve been at this mission for almost a week now, tracking down a powerful Korean drug lord only known as Haemin who had somehow escaped the grips of one of the most powerful Yakuza lords in all of Japan after robbing and killing his son in cold blood in the middle of a deal. The Japanese mafia had contacted Momo and here they were, trying to catch one of the most notorious scums in the narcotraffic business. Really, they were doing public service, Nayeon had said on the drive to the club.

Sana doesn’t like these kinds of missions. She usually doesn’t like many of the missions, not the ones that always end in spilled blood. Most of them do. She likes going undercover and putting on pretty dresses and turning down drinks and tying bad guys to chairs to make them squirm. But she doesn’t like the ones she already knows how they end—either with the person staring down the barrel of a gun or a Yakuza boss sending Momo pictures of a severed head with a ‘Thanks’ and a smiley face emoji attached to it.

The DJ is playing some generic pop song that probably has Chaeyoung groaning to her girlfriend from base. Sana wonders what a top drug lord like this guy is supposed to be is doing here. One would think this a more of a weed and casual cocaine users club rather than a drug dealer one. He’s supposed to be experimenting with extremely powerful stuff, this crowd doesn’t strike her as the kind of crowd who’d be into something like that.

“Something suspicious,” Dahyun’s voice sounds muffled from the other side of the intercom. When Sana had just started going on missions the thing used to tickle so bad she had to bite the inside of cheek to keep herself from giggling in rooms filled with world-class assassins. “You’ve been doing this for a while, one would think you knew that already.”

“Don’t act so smug with me like you weren’t making out with Chaeyoung three seconds ago,” Sana purses her lips, staring at the different people at the party, her eyes lingering on a man near the back door. He has short blonde hair, and he looks anxious, like he’s waiting for someone who’s not here yet. Sana squints.

Dahyun chokes on something. Probably her own saliva.

“ _Sana_ —!”

“Hehe,” chuckles Chaeyoung.

“Focus, everyone,” Jihyo reminds them through the intercom, probably frowning inside the vents. Momo had assigned her as the leader of this mission, as she does with every single one. Jeongyeon tried to lead one once and they had ended up drunk at a hotel after a night of shoplifting at Walmart. They had caught the guy (he worked at Walmart), but Momo had said they had a little too much fun with it. “We’re literally hunting down the most dangerous drug lord in all of Korea.”

“Jihyo,” Sana says, “Do you miss your partner at all?”

Jihyo does not hesitate. “No.”

Nayeon starts cackling and she flinches, the sound startling her. Sana pouts like Jihyo can see her somehow. “You’re so mean to me. You love me, yet you’re so mean to me.”

It’s not actually true. Jihyo has had a lot of patience with her partner over the years, some would say too much. The some in question being the rest of the team. Sana is not inexperienced or anything of the sort, in fact she’s been awarded as one of the best agents in the team; she just can be… overwhelming at times. Jihyo knows how to handle her, that’s why they were assigned as official partners. Nayeon, Mina and Jeongyeon switch depending on missions (much to the dismay of both Nayeon and Mina, who cannot stand the sight of each other for some reason that involves probably way too much sexual tension) and Dahyun and Chaeyoung always remain at base, only leaving on special missions.

Dahyun and Chaeyoung take care of communication. Dahyun is an expert hacker while Chaeyoung is a mechanic and the person who designs and makes most of their very expensive equipment, like their (tickling) intercommunicator. They were the last to join the organization, surprisingly. Before they showed up it used to be Jeongyeon’s job, who was glad for the promotion into fieldwork after so many years of training.

Still, Jihyo is still the most technical and experienced of them all, so it makes sense she’s the leader. Sana knows she was here almost from the start, since the Agency was but an idea. Although she doesn’t ask many questions mostly because it’s not her place to interrogate her partner, but she knows she used to be really young when she started training. She knows her and Momo trained for JYP together since they were almost kids, along with Nayeon. In any case, nobody really talks about their past before the agency anyway, it’s not just a Jihyo thing. It’s too fucked up for most of them; sometimes memories come back to Sana like dreams and she wakes up gasping for air, her forehead damp with cold sweat. Not even Jeongyeon manages to crack a joke about it.

She’s happy she has Jihyo by her side. Even if she flinches away from kisses or hugs or general affection (unless she is in a really good mood, unlike Jeongyeon, who whines and groans every time someone dares to try and hug her, she’s really sweet and caring. Also, she can use nunchucks, which is very disturbing. Cool and disturbing.

“I do _not_ love you,” Jihyo says, her voice a bit strained. Sana imagines her blushing and smirks into the glass she drinks from, the sweet drink making her belly flutter.

“Jeongyeon,” Says Chaeyoung, interrupting their moment. Although Jihyo would probably argue there was no moment at all. “Suspicious guy at your left, three o’clock sharp with the bleached hair. I ran his face through our scans and he’s not on the database. There's no tattoo but it might be Haemin.”

“On it,” her friend says, and Sana sees her blonde head heading where the guy she saw used to be.

“I’ll go with you,” Sana offers, stepping down the bar stool.

“No,” Jihyo commands, ever the leader. “You stay put. Someone has to stay by the bar just in case he tries something.”

“Mina’s near too,” she offers, turning to her left and not finding her blonde friend sipping on her drink by the other end of the bar. “Oh! She’s gone…?”

“Sorry…” she hears Mina say. She thinks she hears running water. “I had to pee.”

Nayeon groans, the sound amplified from her spot inside the vents. Really, Nayeon gets extra grumpy when she gets stuck with the vent missions, but she did draw the shortest stick, so…

“Gross, Myoui.”

 _Here they go._ Sana suppresses a roll of her eyes.

“It’s the faucet, Nayeon,” Mina says, her lips probably pressed together. “Have you never washed your hands?”

“Of course I have—”

“Shut up, you two,” Jeongyeon hisses, annoyed. She thinks she hears Chaeyoung whisper a ‘they are so annoying,’ although that might’ve just been Sana's subconscious, honestly.

No one really knows why Nayeon and Mina don't get along in the slightest. It's been that way ever since Mina joined the Agency almost three years ago, a shy, deadly little thing. Nayeon never really clicked with her the way the others had. They are too different: Nayeon is loud and extroverted where Mina is shy and quiet. When Nayeon laughs the entire building hears, but when Mina laughs it sounds distant, small. Maybe that's why.

“See?” She tells Jihyo. “She’s just in the bathroom, she’ll be back right now… there she is! Hi, Mina!”

She spots the blonde leaving the bathroom just then. She doesn’t wave for the sake of not blowing their covers or whatever, but they do catch eyes with each other, and Mina smiles warmly back at her.

“Yes, I can see her, I’m coming back to the bar now,” Mina nods, then in that tiny voice that makes everyone but Nayeon want to coo at her, Mina says, “Hi, Sana.”

“ _See_ , Jihyo?”

Jihyo’s eye-roll is almost visible. “Sana, you really can’t spend more than three minutes alone?”

Sana blinks.

“No.”

“Okay,” she agrees after a few beats of silence and a sigh. Sana bites back the smile that threatens to take over her lips and follows into the dancing crowd to find Jeongyeon, her friend’s blonde hair disappearing between all the moving bodies.

Sana finds Jeongyeon’s side in no time, where she’s pretending to dance with a guy near the back door where the suspicious man is. This is the darkest part of the club, she realizes then. The neon lights aren’t as bright here, the light doesn’t reach the corners properly. Sana figures it’s a good place to make-out.

Jeongyeon looks at her, expression not giving away her true intentions. Sana gets the clue right away— _Dance with him._ Sana gives her the tiniest of nods.

She straightens her back and puts on her prettiest smile. She hopes her hair is not too flat and tries to catch the guy’s gaze, but he’s too focused on his phone. He still looks like he’s waiting for someone to show up. She manages to catch his eye after a couple of seconds, but he looks back down once again, uninterested. Despite being ignored, she's actually able to notice how nervous the guy actually seems— he’s bouncing his leg up and down, but not to the rhythm of the music that’s playing, his movements are erratic, and he looks up from his phone every few seconds or so, his fingernails his snack of choice whenever he does so.

She pulls Jeongyeon by the arm and drags her further away from the dance floor, to a more secluded, darker corner. The guy she was dancing with looks disappointed, but Jeongyeon looks glad to be away from him.

“What?”

“I don’t think that’s our guy,” Sana tells her. Jeongyeon frowns at her, so she explains. “I think he’s _waiting_ for our guy. He’s too nervous to be the most powerful drug lord in Korea, as Jihyo so kindly referred to him.”

Jeongyeon finally nods. “Okay. I think you might be right.”

“Did you hear that, Jihyo?” Sana smirks.

“Can’t believe I just said that,” Jeongyeon adds.

“No take backs!”

“Guys,” Dahyun interrupts. “There’s a new guy. I think this might be him, on your right, walking right towards our bleached boy. He has the dragon tattoo Momo mentioned Haemin has.”

“I see him,” Nayeon confirms.

Sana does see him then: he’s big, he has a dragon tattoo on his neck (she had supposed that if he were smart he would try to cover it with makeup, but no) and a black tank top and jeans. He seems to intimidate everyone he crosses paths with— the entire dance floor makes room for him to walk through. Maybe they are scared he’ll beat them up.

“He looks like the kind of jerk who’d try to buy you a drink and get angry when you say no,” Jeongyeon says, making Chaeyoung chuckle. Jeongyeon really has an eye for profiling.

“What do you think Bleached Boy has to do with this?” Dahyun asks out loud. 

“Client, maybe,” Mina offers.

“I don’t think he’d deal with clients one on one,” Jihyo disagrees. “He’s too important. This is different, but I don’t know how.”

“Well, we’re spies,” Nayeon says. “Let’s find out.”

“Secret Agents,” Jihyo corrects.

“Same thing...” Mina mutters under her breath.

Jeongyeon and Sana pretend to dance near them when they see him approaching, and neither of them really suspect anything of two cute girls dancing on the side, do them? Mina approaches them too, slowly joining their dancing circle. Sana passingly thinks that she should’ve stuck with blonde hair dye when she dyed it the other day, just so the three of them matched.

Nothing happens for a few minutes. The two guys speak in hushed tones, until the bigger man, _their_ guy, as in _murderous drug lord Haemin_ guy, grabs the other by the arm and pushes the back door open.

The three of them share a look and follow them to the back.

“Be careful,” Chaeng says on the intercom.

Sana is not very scared; she seldom is during their group missions. Sometimes when it’s just her and Jihyo or just her it’s nerve-wracking, even if the years of training have shaped her to become more machine than human. She feels safer when she’s with all of them, like going to the bathroom with your friends. Strength in numbers, she guesses.

Still, there’s always this lingering feeling of doom. Like, this might be the last day I breathe. Maybe this is the day the girls scrub my blood off their fingernails— sometimes it gets stuck there, refuses to leave, the stubborn thing.

Haemin notices they are following right away, of course. He doesn’t seem to think much of any of them, but he’s not happy they are there. His bodyguards circle him like sharks following his every step.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asks them, faring his teeth like he’s some sort of predator. Sana wants to laugh. “You three bitches better go inside before—”

Sana purses her lips at the insult. “Before _what_?”

He does pull out the gun then.

“Of course he has a gun,” Jeongyeon rolls her eyes. “I brought the knives today, I haven’t thrown knives since mission Szarlova.”

“I loved that one,” Mina coos. “Jihyo gifted me that Russian hat for the winter.”

“Oh yeah!,” Sana nods. “That was a really nice Secret Santa gift! I wonder if she’ll finally be mine this year...”

He looks thoroughly confused as to why they are not running away crying. “What the fuck are you all talking about?”

“You know,” Sana says, lips pursed in annoyance every time she looks at him, “for the most dangerous drug lord in Korea, you really are nothing special.”

Jeongyeon hums. “Yeah… These are, what? Ten bodyguards? Dude, this is amateur stuff. You need more than thirty if you killed a Yakuza boss.”

He pales immediately. “You work for Kuzuryu?”

“You could say that...” Mina nods. “We’re more like freelancers.”

Haemin does not seem happy with that answer. He grabs the smaller guy more fiercely, and with bloodshot eyes he commands, “Shoot to kill.”

Bullets fly through the air, but to no avail. Sana knows this dance like the back of her hand, like she’s just as much of a ballerina as Mina is. She takes the gun from her purse and shoots to kill as well; she sees when Jeongyeon’s knives strike one of the men on the chest and he falls like the Berlin Wall. Mina’s quick on her feet, quicker than anyone’s Sana’s ever meet, and she tackles one of them with the back of her gun and he drops unconscious.

It’s quick, she has it under control, the three of them do, but Jihyo and Nayeon choose to walk in then — and one of the bullets strikes Jihyo and Sana’s breath honest to God leaves her.

When she glances behind her, Jihyo is standing in a pool of her own blood.

“Jihyo—!”

“You _motherfucker,_ ” Jihyo whines, and when she glances down she sees it’s her foot. “These shoes were so fucking expensive!”

“You got shot and that’s what you say?” Mina says, punching a guy on the eye effortlessly.

“Of course,” Nayeon says, nodding as she dodges a few bullets. “That’s what any person with taste would say.”

Sana stabs a guy on the arm, effectively maiming him. She’ll think about the morale of it later, when she’s laid in bed and she can’t sleep, right now she just wants to check on Jihyo. Although Jihyo is still shooting at his bodyguards, cursing all of them and their mothers in the process. Soon enough the girls have it covered and all of the bodyguards are down, and Haemin is left standing alone, his mouth wide open in shock.

Jihyo doesn’t seem to be very affected, but she falls to the floor after everything is done, holding her foot to stop the bleeding. Sana watches her with concern in her eyes as she rips a piece of her dress to tie it around her foot to stop the bleeding, and really, it's just a graze, the guy didn't _actually_ stick a bullet in there, but the thought of carrying Jihyo to the car passes through her mind.

Like she can read her mind, Jihyo says, “Don’t even think about it.”

“About what?” she asks, pouting, and at Jihyo’s unimpressed stare, she just shrugs. “I didn’t say anything! I was just checking on you!”

“You were totally thinking about carrying me bridal style,” she rolls her eyes.

“You got shot in the foot! Is that such a bad idea?” 

“Yes!”

Sana bends down, wraps her arms on the back of her legs despite her loud and incessant protests, and carries Jihyo in her arms until she shuts up and blushes up to her ears. “Jihyo,” Sana says, the hint of a smile on her lips. “Did you just fall for me?”

Jihyo rolls her eyes. "Can you stop flirting with me? I got shot."

"Only on your foot!"

“So,” Nayeon says, addressing the only two men left, blood on her face. It’s not hers. “Wanna explain who Bleached Boy is, Mister Haemin? Did he help you kill Kuzuryu? A co-worker, perhaps?”

Haemin starts running. Jihyo lifts her gun and shoots him on the foot, and he falls to the floor with a groan. Vendetta.

“No!” Bleached Boy cries, his arms up in the air in surrender, flinching from the sound of the gunshot. “I’m not! I’m only a messenger, I swear!”

“A banshee?” Jeongyeon offers, half smiling.

“I— he said I had to deliver this to him,” he says, shaking his head.

“Who is him?” Mina frowns.

“I don’t— I don’t know,” he cries. “He had black hair and— I don’t really remember, a white shirt, maybe, I don’t know. But please don’t kill me!”

This is new. “What message?”

“He said not to say anything,” the guy bites his lip. “He said that if I said something he’d— he’d kill me and—”

Nayeon lifts her gun, aiming at Bleached Boy’s forehead. “ _I’m_ threatening you now. Who and what. Right now.”

A single tear falls down his cheeks, Sana feels her heart twist. “He said something big is coming, the dark is light and day is dark, that the plan will start soon, really soon—”

A gunshot interrupts the conversation. Bleached Boy lies dead on the ground, a red hole on his forehead, blood dripping down his face. Sana gasps and Jeongyeon gestures at the body, surprised.

“Nayeon!” Jihyo reprimands, although she must look ridiculous trying to boss them around in Sana’s arms.

“I didn’t do it!”

“She’s right,” a voice says. Haemin holds a gun in his hand, and she immediately tenses. He’s still lying on the floor, but he turns around, Sana figures he must’ve shot him from the back.

Nayeon wields her weapon almost instantly, but he has no interest in killing them. His hands are trembling, his whole body is, Sana notices. He holds the gun like a man who is about to lose it all, right under his chin, and Sana swallows like her saliva is rocks, scraping her throat as they go down. 

“You don’t have to...” is all she manages to say.

“No one can know,” Haemin says, and pulls the trigger.

“That was a disaster,” she mutters on the way back home, as the city lights are a blur of blues and whites on the windows beside them. When she closes her eyes she sees blood splatters on the sidewalk.

“You guys did your best,” Dahyun offers from the intercom, sounding unsure, not knowing if that’s the right thing to say.

“That doesn’t cut it,” Nayeon says sharply, looking out the window.

Mina swallows and nods, as somber as the rest of them are. “It was the messiest mission yet.”

“I can’t stop thinking about that message...” Jihyo mutters from the backseat. “What did it mean? What was Haemin so desperate to protect he took his own life to hide it?”

“You should be thinking about healing our Goddamn foot,” Jeongyeon says, lips pursed and eyes on the wheel. “You got shot. Sana had to carry you into the car. You should be crying in pain right now.”

Jihyo shrugs. “Pain is just in your head.”

“Uh, no,” Nayeon shakes her head. “Pain is on your foot. Put the damn ice pack there before I tape it myself.”

Jihyo rolls her eyes but obeys anyway. When Nayeon and Jeongyeon join forces against her she doesn’t really stand a chance. “I’m serious though,” she says, placing the ice pack on her foot and flinching at the cold. “What did that even mean?”

“We’ll tell Momo,” Mina says, “She’ll know, right?”

“Momo’s our boss, not a magician,” Sana has the feeling Nayeon is rolling her eyes on the backseat. “She doesn’t know everything. She only does as JYP tells her to.”

“Well, we can ask,” Mina says, sharply. “Do you have a better idea, Nayeon?”

Nayeon looks like she wants to keep arguing (as she usually does when Mina is involved), but even she looks too exhausted and she drops the fighting altogether. Maybe not physically, more… mentally. Sana feels herself grow more uncomfortable.

“Put on a song,” she asks Jeongyeon.

“Which one?”

Jihyo frowns. “You want to put on a song right now?”

“You almost lost your foot,” Sana points out. “I just want to listen to something that will make me smile.”

“Got it.”

Jeongyeon's hand flies to the radio, and Sana immediately recognizes the CD she starts playing, and she closes her eyes, already feeling the ghost of a smile dancing on her lips. 

“I hate this song,” Nayeon groans and hides her face in her hands as the first notes of 'Cheer Up' play.

“No, you don't,” Jeongyeon giggles. “No one hates this song, not even music connoisseur Son Chaeyoung.”

“It’s true,” she says from the intercom. “It’s a modern masterpiece.”

“And Sana’s favorite song,” Jihyo adds.

“Yup!” She already feels better after listening and singing along to the first chorus. “You remembered! See, she _does_ like me.”

“Jury’s still out on that one,” Jihyo adds, tilting her head to the side. Although the hint of a smile can be seen on her lips. When Sana starts whining, Jihyo rolls her eyes. “Okay, just a little.”

Sana smiles. Jihyo doesn’t lose her foot on the way back to base. Today might still be considered a win, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was entirely from sana's POV but POVS will change during every chapter. this chapter was shorter than others will be because it's just the prologue JKASJ  
> very excited about this journey and i hope u guys are too!!!!


	2. I

CHAPTER I

Le Diamant Parfait

There’s red everywhere. On the table, inside her fingernails and on the commissure of Mina’s own lips, dripping down her face and disappearing down her neck; when Mina closes her eyes, she can almost taste it...

“Sana,” Dahyun says, laughing as she handles the other one a napkin with grease-stained fingers. “Your fingers are covered in Ketchup, you’re getting it all over the place.”

Mina bites on her hamburger. Hmm. Barbecue sauce.

“Look at your blouse, where you were raised in a farmhouse?” Jeongyeon mutters, pointing at the small red dot on Sana's shirt.

“Oh,” Chaeyoung mutters excitedly, mouth full of burger, pointing at Jeongyeon. “Dude, that rhymed!”

Dahyun crinkles her nose. “... Kinda.”

Jihyo grumps. 

“The _files_ , Sana.”

“Sorry!” Sana apologizes with a smile, proceeding to lick the ketchup off her fingers one by one. Mina pretends not to notice Jihyo following the action with her eyes, and minds her own business. “I haven’t had a burger this good ever since we went undercover to San Francisco, remember, Hyo?”

“Yeah… The jalapeño burger was good.” Jihyo allows herself to smile, leaning back on the couch. Sana makes the best of the moment and cuddles up to her partner, who doesn’t complain, too busy clouded on jalapeño bliss somewhere back in San Francisco.

“We should get burgers more often,” Jeongyeon decides, sitting on the armchair next to Jihyo. Mina gives a short nod in agreement.

Nayeon, from her side of the couch, groans when Sana clings to Jihyo even more, digging her bare feet on Nayeon’s leg and making Jeongyeon laugh at her frown. Mina has this theory that Nayeon can’t stand to be happy for more than five minutes, and every day she further confirms her theory. 

“You both need to get a room,” she says before standing up. She fixes her skirt as Jihyo honest to God blushes and starts stuttering. It’s very cute, and Mina giggles slightly.

“W - we should get back to work,” is the only truly understandable thing she manages to say, but it drowns in the sea that are Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung’s laughs.

“But it’s Burger Thursday...” Mina mutters, barely audible even after everyone’s laughter dies down. Everyone knows Burger Thursday is even better than Taco Tuesdays.

“Yeah,” Jeongyeon smacks Jihyo across the chest. “Let us finish our burgers, dude.”

Jihyo rolls her eyes but doesn’t say anything to that. Instead, she turns to Dahyun behind her, who is sitting on her desk next to her girlfriend’s.

“Did you make your move yet?” she asks her.

Dahyun nods. “Yup.”

“What are you talking about?” Sana asks, perking up from Jihyo’s side.

“I’m beating Chaeyoung’s girlfriend ass in Chess,” Jihyo replies, looking down at her phone. 

“ _Destroy_ her, babe,” Chae says, looking at Dahyun, her eyes glinting with determination.

Admittedly, Mina had thought that working for TWICE would be slightly less about Taco Tuesdays and iMessage Chess games and more about… you know, putting holes inside people’s heads.

When Momo had recruited her just short of three years ago for something called the JYP Enterprise, that used to be all Mina had known. She had grown up in the heart of Tokyo, among pointé shoes and bright pink tutús and staring down the barrel of a gun more times that she could count. At The Red Royal Academy, Mina learned the dance of The Nutcracker, and how to snap a man’s neck in three steps when she was twelve. Raised as a weapon, like most of the girls Mina has ever known; not quite human just yet.

Back then, everything had been about death and revenge and blood. At the Academy girls would stab men during lunch and no one would bat an eyelash — here, on her first day, Dahyun had called her ‘cute’ and Jeongyeon had brought her flowers to ‘make her feel welcome’.

Needless to say, things were different here. Mina still finds herself adapting to the smallest of things, to the way Sana hugs whenever Sana wants to, to Chaeyoung’s weird texts to the group chat talking about the newest ‘Euphoria’ episode (whatever that is), to Jihyo’s almost familiar yet completely different leadership. Mina has learned everything about her co-workers to adapt… and yet, even three years later, Mina cannot figure out Im Nayeon for the life of her.

It’s easy to know what most of them will do next. She knows that Chaeyoung gets grumpy when she forgets to bring slippers to wear under her desk, so she brings an extra pair on her bag. She knows Jihyo likes to keep most of her missions reports on a binder that no one cares enough to read. Jeongyeon gets anxious and taps her left foot on the ground when there’s crumbs on the coffee table. Sana will do anything to make any of them smile, and she’s successful every time.

But when Mina thinks she knows what Nayeon might do next, she completely flips the table and does something completely different. In the Spy business, predictability is equally your best friend and your enemy. Being predictable is deadly. The more predictable people are, the easier target they become. Nayeon seems to know this entirely too well, and never lets her guard down… not when Mina is around, anyway.

On one hand, it’s very admirable spy work. Her and Mina live in the same building together, and have to see each other almost all hours of the day. On the other, it’s a pain in the ass. Nayeon doesn’t want to let her in. To her, Mina will always be the new girl, an outsider, someone else she has to protect herself from. Mina would respect that if she wasn’t so _mean._

Mina’s first night at the TWICE headquarters had been a rollercoaster of emotions — she had left the only place she had ever called home and been introduced to a group of strangers she was supposed to trust with her own life. There was no Academy anymore, Momo and JYP had rescued and saved her life, yet she had never felt more lost or confused.

After introductions, Momo had guided her to the fifth floor, where all their dorms were. Under the disguise of a Business Company, the Super Secret TWICE Agency was hidden in plain sight as a company building. 

“You probably want to take a cold shower,” Momo told her, as the elevator doors opened. “You should rest.”

It had all been so very different when she was in the Academy. Even now, she can still feel the coldness of the room she used to stay in, sharing with ten other girls whose names she wasn’t allowed to know. They used to call her Swan — animal names, easier to remember. The first time she was ever referred to by name in years was when Momo read through her file. _Myoui Mina._ When her eyes are half-closed and her mind drifts off to memories of the past, Mina lets herself recognize just how _different_ life used to be. 

The elevator door opened to reveal a long hallway, with seven different doors. “The dorms,” Momo introduced, stepping into the hallway. “All of the girls stay here, together. Each comes with a bathroom, and the kitchen and common area are on the fourth floor. I’ll show it to you tomorrow before breakfast, but you should rest for now. I stay on the sixth floor.”

Mina hadn’t really known what to say back then, so she had just nodded. Momo had smiled. Despite being only a few years older, she had felt comforting even then. 

She had wondered about who exactly Momo was; still does, even today. Momo doesn’t talk about herself ever — the most she ever talks about herself is when she first introduced herself to Mina. _I’m here to help._ — _Why?_ Mina had asked. _Because I used to be like you._ Stripped of humanity. Raised to destroy. A weapon. Mina had understood.

“You’ll be staying on the third one on the right,” Momo pointed at the door, taking out a set of keys from the inside of her pocket — a slick grey blazer. “Between Nayeon’s and Jeongyeon’s. It used to be Dahyun’s, but she already stayed over Chaeyoung’s almost every night, so don’t feel too bad about that.”

Mina nodded, again. She felt small, like a little girl learning the steps to a new dance, a new normal. Momo nodded back at her, the soft smile settling into her features one more time.

“Take your time to adjust,” Momo said. “It’ll be hard at first, but the girls will help if you ask for it. I’m the leader of this branch, but I can help too, so don’t be scared to ask me stuff. We don’t bite… Well, not if they don’t pay us to.”

Mina blinked. Momo snorted, slightly awkward, like she was clearing her throat instead of laughing. “Well, I’ll be leaving. Nayeon’s in her dorm if you need anything, she couldn’t make it to the welcome party.”

Momo placed the keys on Mina’s hand and stepped back into the elevator, and her expression turned from friendly to professional in the blink of an eye.

“Thank you,” Mina managed to say before Momo was gone for the night, and Momo gifted her one more smile. The right corner of her lip raised, and the door finally closed.

 _She’s nice_ , she had thought. That was good. It had been a while since she met someone nice. Although everything had been good so far, Mina couldn’t help but wonder if she’d even get a wink of sleep that night. The hairs on the back of her neck were raised, clutching her small bag of clothes until her knuckles turned white. They had confiscated all of her weapons the moment she stepped into the building, but her hand was reaching for her pocket like her usual knife was still somehow tucked inside.

Mina didn’t have any more time to dwell too much on sleeping before she heard the sound footsteps. 

Her head snapped to the left so quickly it should’ve given her whiplash, and she saw as the door opened to reveal a girl with shoulder-length brown hair. _Must be Nayeon._ The girl stared for a second, looking bored, and then her eyes drifted behind her.

She must’ve looked like a caged animal then. Doe eyed, body tense, ready to defend herself. 

“You must be the new girl,” Nayeon had said. Mina noticed the glass of water in her hand right then, as she walked towards the sole plant on the hallway and poured the whole thing on it. “Don’t get too comfortable.”

Mina didn’t say anything, and Nayeon laughed, still not looking at her. “We haven’t had a new girl in a while. I give you a year at most.”

Compared to the warm welcome she’d just had, this felt more familiar. Catty. Back at The Academy, the girls used to fight each other to get missions. The more missions you got, the higher you climbed on the hierarchy, the sooner you would graduate. Teacher's pet logic.

Nayeon turned to head back to her apartment, but before she closed the door, Mina spoke, feeling like she should at least attempt to defend herself.

“You don’t know me.”

Nayeon’s hand twitched on the handle, looking at Mina through the corner of her eye. “I know everything about you, Myoui Mina.”

Mina squinted as her body disappeared inside her room. That was probably one of their most pleasant interactions, and yet it still left Mina’s mouth feeling bitter. Three years later, Mina still doesn’t know what Nayeon was talking about, and she had made no effort to explain what she meant.

Involuntarily, Mina’s eyes land on Nayeon who is laughing at whatever Jeongyeon is showing her on her phone, the dimples on her cheek more pronounced than ever. 

Momo walks in then, opening the door to the office, and bringing Mina back to the present. 

“How are my Angels?” she asks, a smile on her face.

“I told you we should’ve called us JYP’s Angels when they asked us to choose a name,” Nayeon says, lifting her hand to meet Momo’s in a high five that ends up in them holding hands. “It’s more catchy than Super Secret TWICE Agency.”

“You just say that ‘cause you want to be the Lucy Liu of the Agency,” Jeongyeon snorts.

“And Chaeyoung is totally the Drew Barrymore.”

Chaeyoung gasps. “Sana is Cameron Diaz.”

“Who?” Sana asks.

“Weren’t you in a meeting with a client?” Jihyo asks Momo, putting her phone down on the coffee table. “You wouldn’t miss Burger Thursdays for any other reason.”

That makes Mina giggle.

“Yeah,” Momo nods. “I was with JYP discussing a future mission for you. And it’s a _good_ one.”

Dahyun cheers excitedly, as Nayeon rubs her hands together in anticipation. Mina follows her actions with her eyes before focusing back on Momo.

“I hope it’s about stealing from rich people,” Jeongyeon says. “Those are always more fun than the torture ones.”

Sana nods. “Yes, please. Let it be a fun one!”

Mina doesn’t really have a preference. Any mission that doesn’t get her killed is her favorite one. “What is the mission?”

“They are holding the United East Asian Party on the Seoul Four Seasons tomorrow,” Momo explains, “I’ve been contacted by a provider from Hong Kong who is _very_ interested in the necklace the daughter of the President of Taiwan will be wearing.”

Jeongyeon fist bumps the air. “Grand Theft!”

“She’s in,” Jihyo says, amused, pointing at Jeongyeon with her thumb.

Momo pulls out her phone and places it upside down in her hand so the lower part of the phone is facing the wall. In a second the phone projects images of a tall, beautiful girl, with long black hair onto the wall. “Her name is Chou Tzuyu, she’s twenty-three. Sole daughter to President Chou. Single, bad attitude according to some, heart of gold to others.”

“She’s so pretty...” Sana ooh’s as Momo zooms in on her face. Nayeon rolls her eyes at her. 

“She’s been named the most beautiful woman in the world by People Magazine, so you’re not alone in that.” Momo smirks, then moves on to another picture, this time one of a golden necklace with three white diamonds on the center. “This is Miss Chou’s favorite necklace. _Le Diamant Parfait_ is one of the most exclusive pieces ever designed by french jeweler Jean-Paul Bonnebouche. Valued in just over ten million dollars.”

“Damn,” Dahyun whistles.

“What’s the plan?” Jihyo asks, looking interested. “We sneak into the party and steal it?”

“There’s a replica the Hong Kong buyer will be providing,” Momo nods. “They’ve been working on it for years. It’s supposed to be identical. You’ll need to replace the pieces while Miss Chou is distracted, but I’ll leave the planning to you, Jihyo. If you’re up for it. JYP said they only trust the TWICE branch to pull this mission off.”

“I’m in!” Sana exclaims, taking Jihyo’s hand. “This one sounds fun. And Jihyo is coming too!”

Jihyo shrugs. “I guess I am.”

“What the Hell,” Nayeon rolls her eyes. “I need the adrenaline boost. I’m in too.”

“I suppose Dubchaneg are in too, correct?” When Dahyun and Chaeyoung start talking to each other about what cool gadgets they can start preparing for the Heist, Momo turns to look at Mina expectantly. “What about you, Mina?”

She doesn’t miss Nayeon’s eyes on hers — she knows the others are waiting for her reply too, but somehow her gaze always feels heavier. 

Mina nods. “Okay.”

“Great,” Momo smiles, pleased. She clasps her hands together. “I’ll be sending you your outfits tomorrow along with different IDs and identity sheets for those who’ll be undercover. I want Jeongyeon to do the replacement, and Mina and Nayeon on the floor undercover.”

Jeongyeon nods once at her. “You got it, Momo.” 

“The mission should be fairly easy and go smoothly,” she continues. “But once the necklace is replaced, you’re gone and you don’t look back. We can’t afford to be too exposed in a room that will be highly protected. Understood?”

Everyone nods in agreement, and Momo smiles, pleased. 

“Let’s get those ten million dollars, girls,” she winks.

A few minutes later, after Momo says her goodbyes, Jihyo clasps her hands together excitedly. “We have a lot of planning to do, so let’s get to it as soon as possible. The Gala is tomorrow.”

The plan is fairly simple, Jihyo knows that the group can’t afford any risky moves. Jeongyeon is the swiftest at pickpocketing — Mina remembers a story of her stealing watches in Wall Street and making thousands a week — while Mina and Nayeon are supposed to act as distraction. 

After Jihyo starts bickering with Nayeon about something Mina doesn’t care to listen to, Mina overhears as Sana approaches Chaeyoung and Dahyun at their desks.

“Chaeyoung,” she says. “Do you still have that file from that mission we did a while ago…?” she trails off, putting down the papers with a sigh. “Remember that guy Haemin? And the guy with the bleached hair?”

Chaeyoung frowns slightly, sipping on her coke glass. “The one Nayeon called Bleached Boy?” When Sana nods, Chaeyoung’s frown only deepens. “You mean the Yakuza mission.”

Dahyun scrunches up her nose, “But that was over three months ago.”

“I know,” she shakes her head, closing the file. “I just— just wanted to check some things. I wanted to look over the files before Momo sent it to the client, just to double chek everything is okay.”

 _Sana? Double check?_ Chaeyoung frowns. “What for?”

“Just because,” Sana attempts to sound casual, but her shrug looks forced and awkward. “I just want to check we didn’t miss anything. It was a weird mission, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?” 

“He did kill himself,” Dahyun points out, placing her pen between her teeth and chewing on it absentmindedly.

“He probably didn’t want to die tortured by the Japanese mafia,” the other girl replies. “Kuzuryu _did_ say he wanted to cut off his limbs and feed it to his dogs.”

“No, it’s not that he shot himself, but he whispered something before he did it,” Sana shakes her head. “ _No one can know_ … That’s weird, isn’t it?”

Chaeyoung shrugs. “Not really. All of our missions are weird, you guys are basically assassins, it’s all very shady and extremely illegal.”

“ _Spies_ ,” Dahyun corrects.

Her girlfriend rolls her eyes. “Assassin spies. Anyway, Jihyo took that file a while ago. You should ask her.”

Sana hums absentmindedly, then goes back to Jihyo’s side to listen to the plan attentively. Mina’s eyebrows stay in place, but she wonders what that whole thing might’ve been about.

  
  


It’s been a while since Mina’s felt pretty. It’s not that she thinks she’s ugly — realistically, she knows she’s not ugly or unattractive, but after a while of looking at herself with blood dripping down her forehead and gunpowder on her hands, it’s hard to remember she’s human, much less _pretty_ , something to be desired.

But this dress makes her feel like when she was a girl dancing around in tutús for an audience. Pretty, like the White Swan in Swan Lake. Momo has good taste in dresses. She wonders if the Mother branch at JYP sends her their dresses like they do the identities and IDs, or if she chooses them herself. She stares at the card in her hand. Sharon Kim, daughter of Ambassador Kim of the United States of America. Her father, unfortunately, could not make it tonight, but she’s here to fill in for him.

Mina stares one last time to herself in the mirror, blonde hair tied into a clean bun. The dark blue long dress has a high slit on the right side, leaving room to showcase her black high heels. She almost imagines herself as a celebrity as she walks out of her dorm. _Sharon Kim, movie star_.

Jeongyeon is already in the hallway, back leaned against the wall. She’s wearing an all white suit, short black hair slicked back.

“Hey,” she says. “I’m Son Jaehee.”

Mina smiles. “I’m Sharon Kim.”

“American name, cool…” Jeongyeon places her hands inside her pockets awkwardly. “You look — great by the way. Erm, really pretty.”

She nods once at her blue dress, looking slightly uncomfortable all of a sudden. Mina’s learned Jeongyeon grows embarrassed way too quickly, even if she likes to act cool and embarrass others most of the time. 

“Thank you,” Mina replies, a little amused. “You look good too.”

The rest of the girls step out of their dorms then, Jihyo and Sana in black waiter uniforms. Nayeon is wearing a light pink dress that reaches around her ankle with red details, as her now long brown hair cascades down her back. Mina’s eyes find Nayeon’s accidentally, and Mina looks away, an uneasy feeling growing on the pit of her stomach.

“You got the replica?” Nayeon asks Jihyo, unfazed.

Jihyo pulls out a necklace from the inside of her pocket, heavy and shiny. It’s identical to the one Momo showed them before. 

“Right here,” Jihyo says, then throws it at Jeongyeon, who catches it and starts inspecting it; the fake diamonds catching the light for a brief second. “Everyone remembers the plan?” 

“Myoui approaches Chou under the disguise of a politician,” Nayeon explains. “I go up to perform. Jeongyeon, dressed as a reporter, interrupts Mina and Chou to ask her questions, Sana pushes through the crowd and Myoui spills her drink on Chou’s dress.”

“Just slightly. We don’t want to cause a scene,” Jihyo adds. “Meanwhile, I distract the bodyguards by telling them there was a mysterious car parked outside and suspicious-looking men stepped out of it.”

“And as Mina attempts to clean Tzuyu with a napkin and everyone is distracted by Nayeon, Jeongyeon switches the necklaces,” Sana concludes with a thumbs up. “The theft of the century.”

Mina is about to reply when the elevator dings and Chaeyoung steps out, smirking and with their earpieces in hand. 

“You all look stunning,” she says.

“Even me?” Sana asks, tugging at her dull black pants. Jihyo rolls her eyes beside her but still smiles.

“Yes, Sana,” Jeongyeon replies for her, a sigh on the tip of her tongue.

“Here are your gadgets,” Chaeyoung announces, as she starts handing out earpieces to each of them. Chaeng gives Mina a pink one, with mint flowers decorating it. She smiles slightly as she tucks it into her ear, and hides it with her hair as best as possible. 

She also handles her lipstick — although it’s not really lipstick, when she takes off the lid a small pocket knife reveals itself. Jeongyeon hides a gun on her ankles, and Nayeon one on the corset of her dress. “Just in case,” Chaeyoung says.

After that, Chaeyoung drives them to the location, while Dahyun stays behind.

“I hate being getaway driver,” Chaeyoung mumbles under her breath when they are three blocks away. 

“We hate it when you are too,” Nayeon whines, grabbing the door handles as the car violently shakes. “You drive like you have nothing to live for.”

“I can’t deny nor confirm that.”

Mina, who had the stupid idea of sitting next to Nayeon, has to hold on to her seat for dear life unless she wants to end up sitting on her lap. And absolutely _no one_ wants that.

“Turn right— then left—” Jihyo screeches from the co-pilot’s seat. “The left — I said turn to the — _Chaeyoung the old lady_!”

“Sorry!”

Sana closes her eyes. “Eek!”

“We’re gonna die before the actual deathwish mission,” Jeongyeon says, fastening her own seatbelt.

“Stay strong,” Dahyun replies through the intercom with a laugh.

Five minutes later the car finally comes to a stop at a nearby alley and Mina almost cries out when her feet land on solid ground. Jihyo holds her stomach, and Nayeon has to fix her hair on the rearview mirror, her eyebrows drawn close.

Nayeon huffs at the sight of herself. “Do they just give driving licenses to anyone nowadays?”

Chae smirks. “Momo promised the instructor a hundred thousand won if he passed me.”

“That explains it.”

“We should confiscate it when we get back to base,” Jeongyeon murmurs to Jihyo when she steps out of the car.

“Good luck!” Chaeyoung exclaims, slamming the car door closed. “I’ll be here! Remember the spot.”

“I think I rather get caught than come back to that car...” Mina shivers. Sana nods in agreement.

“Okay,” Jihyo clears her throat, placing her hands on her hips. “It’s showtime. Everyone, in position.”

Sana nods once and disappears down the alley, Jihyo following close behind. Jeongyeon taps her foot once and twice the second they leave her sight, something Mina learned to identify as an anxious tic. 

Nayeon squeezes Jeongyeon’s shoulder for a second. She says nothing to Mina as they wait.

 _“We’re in,”_ Jihyo finally announces. _“Meet us at the emergency exit of the Hotel. We’ll sneak you in now.”_

“Copy,” Mina says, and the three of them leave the alley together.

Her feet guide her immediately to the venue — the Four Seasons Hotel, a tall white building, a queue of photographers and interviewers right outside, as politicians wave their way and smile for the cameras. She searches for a way to go near the emergency exit without being photographed and sees Sana waving at them from a block away.

 _“To your left!”_ She says through the intercom.

They quickly meet her and Sana guides them through yet another alley — Mina bites back a smirk when Nayeon steps on a puddle and scrunches up her nose in disgust — until they are in front of the Hotel’s fire escape, the _Emergency Exit_ sign glowing a neon green, casting shadows on Sana’s pale skin. She opens the emergency door with what looks to be a keycard, and they are faced with a bunch of stairs that make Jeongyeon whine. 

Sana turns around to look at them one last time before they are separated for the mission.

“God, you all look so hot,” Sana sighs. She kisses Jeongyeon’s cheek despite protest. “Good luck.”

She leaves, and so they climb up the stairs in mostly silence.

“These are not stair climbing shoes,” Jeongyeon groans.

“You’ve killed a man twice your size with a penny,” replies Nayeon, who is rolling her eyes and not breaking a sweat. “You can handle some stairs.”

Four sets of stairs later, Mina, Nayeon, and Jeongyeon finally arrive on the fifth floor, where the ballroom is. Mina waits until Joengyeon nods to open the doors, and if she were any other person, if there had been a life where everything was different, Mina would’ve gasped at the sheer beauty of it. Instead the ballroom, with its long walls decorated by rose gold wallpapers, with golden finishing touches, with angel paintings and light blue colored clouds on its roof, only reminds her of a time when she was the dancer of Death.

_En pointé, grand jeté, pas de deux… focus, Swan. You don’t want to lose this dance, do you?_

It’s not usual for Mina to be so thrown off balance by something so insignificant. There’s a part of herself that will always be on survival mode — especially during a mission — waiting to be replaced. She can’t let them replace her. She knows what happens to the girls that are replaced. She should work harder. She needs to work harder, en pointé, pas de deux, spin—

Mina is only brought back to reality when Nayeon brushes past her to enter, the tulle on her dress almost making Mina shiver. She shakes her head after a millisecond and follows suit, Jeongyeon already disappearing into the crowd.

She decides to linger by the stage. From here, she has eyes on almost everyone: Sana is on the left end of the room, while Jihyo is near the entrance, already chatting up the security guards. Jeongyeon is the only one she can’t really see, probably already mingling with the guests and asking questions about Tzuyu. 

Nayeon is near her, just a few steps away, talking to the band and flashing her fake ID. She tries not to look at her; there’s always something that catches Mina’s attention with Nayeon, like a moth to light. It's annoying.

“Dahyun,” Mina asks, “Do you have access to the hotel’s security cameras already?”

 _“In three… two… one,”_ Dahyun counts down, then Mina can hear a bunch of keyboard smashes. _“I’m in,”_ she announces. _“I can see all of you.”_

Mina catches Sana doing a quick peace sign to the cameras, so quick Mina wonders if she gave herself whiplash.

 _“Sana,”_ Jihyo warns. _“I saw that.”_

Sana sticks her tongue out at the cameras, champagne tray on hand.

 _“Good one,”_ Jeong says — Mina can picture the way she’s smiling, and she has to bite her bottom lip to keep herself from giggling.

 _“Delete the emergency exit footage,”_ Chaeyoung reminds her girlfriend from the car.

_“Already on it.”_

A few seconds later, Nayeon announces, _“I’ll be up on stage in an hour.”_

 _“Jeongyeon,”_ Jihyo calls. _“Have you located the target?”_

 _“What do you think I’ve been doing for the past ten minutes?_ ” Jeongyeon replies, then, _“I don’t think she’s here yet. But everyone’s talking about her.”_

 _“Maybe she’s waiting to make a dramatic entrance?_ ” Sana suggests.

As if on cue, the doors to the ballroom open to reveal a tall, gorgeous girl with long black hair. There are several bodyguards surrounding her, but she still smiles warmly and waves at the guests. On her neck rests _Le Diamant Parfait_ in all its glory.

It’s true that she’s one of the prettiest girls Mina has ever seen. Her long black hair reaches her waist, her black dress just above her knees, and her long legs go on for days, accentuated by her heels. Mina feels like blushing for some reason, can’t help it when her eyes linger on the girl’s face even as she is approached by what looks like hundreds of people to speak with her.

“ _Damn_ ,” Nayeon murmurs under her breath.

 _“I’m guessing you spotted the target,”_ Dahyun states.

_“She’s so pretty...”_

“Sana’s drooling,” Mina teases.

_“I’m just stating facts!”_

_“Focus, everyone,”_ Jihyo chastises. _“Jeongyeon, are you approaching...? Jeongyeon? Are you there?”_

Jeongyeon does not respond. Before Sana’s heart jumps to her throat in worry, Mina hears someone stumble slightly from the end of the line, the sound of glass clashing with the floor, and then Jeongyeon clearing her throat roughly.

_“Ehem, yes. Approaching the, uhm. Target. Yes, target. Approaching it. Woohoo.”_

_“Shit,”_ Chaeyoung curses, although she sounds more amused than anything. _“We forgot Jeongyeon is useless around pretty girls.”_

 _“But she’s friends with me…?_ ” Nayeon adds, confused.

Mina bites the inside of her cheek to keep herself from rolling her eyes.

 _“I am_ not _useless,_ ” Jeongyeon scoffs. _“I was looking at the necklace. I’m a professional, unlike you guys.”_

 _“Sure, such a professional,”_ Nayeon mocks, _“Remember that time you ordered a pizza in the middle of an interrogation?_ ”

 _“I don’t dwell on the past,”_ Jeongyeon states.

Nayeon and Jeongyeon bicker some more, Jihyo joins in after a few seconds (as per usual), and Mina zones out most of it (also as per usual), managing to snatch a champagne glass from a waiter in the meantime. After a few minutes, she watches Tzuyu approaching the stage, where the orchestra is playing and Mina is standing. 

“The target is approaching me,” Mina announces, standing straighter unconsciously. 

The fighting stops for a glorious second.

 _“Approaching,”_ Jeongyeon says, and Mina sees her white suit from the corner of her eye.

_“Don’t get caught, ladies.”_

Mina can hear the smirk in her voice. _“Wasn’t planning to.”_

Tzuyu comes to a stop a few feet away from Mina, sipping on a glass of her own champagne. Jeongyeon is only a few seconds away — they catch each other's eye; _Not yet_ , Mina says with hers, and Jeongyeon nods curtly.

She takes a deep breath.

“Hello,” Mina turns to greet Tzuyu, walking slowly yet excitedly. She decides to play dumb and sweet, thinks it might be more approachable that way. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Sharon Kim, the daughter of the American Ambassador, who sadly couldn’t make it tonight. It’s an honor to meet you.”

Tzuyu smiles slightly. _She’s even prettier up close_ , Mina thinks, although she looks slightly worn. Her eyes look tired, maybe even sad, and they're a line of worry on her forehead that seems almost permanent. 

“No, I don’t believe we have. I am Chou Tzuyu,” she greets, holding out her hand for Mina to shake.

“Oh, I know,” Mina smiles, attempting to look shy. She shakes Tzuyu’s hand with a weak grip and Tzuyu’s smile softens. “Your dress is stunning.”

“Thank you. Yours is lovely as well...” she tilts her head to the side, slightly confused. “I really haven’t seen you anywhere else before. Your father is Ambassador Kim, correct?”

“I don’t particularly care for these events so I don't attend most of them,” Mina replies. “My father is far more bureaucratic than me. I’ve heard that Lee Yoojung was performing this one though, so I insisted on coming. In truth,” Mina whispers, “I only show up for the free food most of the time.”

Tzuyu nods, a small smile slipping into her features — this one does reach the corners of her eyes.

“I can respect that.” Tzuyu hums in agreement. “Truth be told, I’d rather not show up to these events as well. They are terribly long. But it’s my duty as my father’s spokeswoman in Korea.”

Mina lifts her glass slightly. “To our duties.”

Tzuyu smiles and opens her mouth to respond, but before she can, Jeongyeon pops out of thin air with a notebook. “And what duties might those be?” she asks, pen on her hair.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I know you,” Tzuyu frowns, looking slightly uncomfortable when she looks behind her and finds Jeongyeon there. When her guards step in closer, Tzuyu waves them off and they step away once again. 

“Oh, I’m Son Jaehee,” Jeongyeon says, holding out her hand. “I’m a journalist for the Seoul Gazette.”

Tzuyu frowns. “I thought this would be an event free of the press.”

“I am not just the press, I’m a journalist,” Jeongyeon replies, lowering her hand when it’s evident Tzuyu won’t shake it. “I’m a guest of honor.”

“Can’t imagine why...” Mina murmurs under her breath and catches the way the corner of Tzuyu’s mouth twitches.

“Well then, enjoy your night,” Tzuyu dismisses Jeongyeon.

“I was just wondering if I could ask you and Miss Sharon Kim a few questions,” she insists.

“What for? Your gossip site?”

“I write about politics, Miss Kim,” Jeongyeon responds, her eyebrows twitching at the disdain. “I’m a respected journalist. I leave the gossip for Naver and Pannchoa.”

“Very well,” Tzuyu purses her lips in slight annoyance, but other than that, she’s the picture of perfect politeness. “What do you wish to ask?”

“Thank you,” Jeongyeon nods, smiling and looking at her notebook. “So… who are you wearing tonight?”

“I thought you were a respected political journalist?” Tzuyu wonders, lifting an eyebrow at Jeongyeon’s question.

“My readers want to read about you, although I don’t see what’s particularly interesting about what designer you’re wearing tonight,” Jeongyeon replies curtly, her words sharp as blades. “You are practically the only thing the guests want to discuss.”

“I do wish they wouldn’t.”

“You don’t think you’re worthy of being the topic of conversation?” she asks.

“I’m hardly that interesting,” Tzuyu replies, squinting slightly. “They should be discussing way more pressing matters, don’t you think?”

“The editors want whatever sells stories, Miss Chou,” Jeongyeon shrugs. “What would you like to talk about, then?”

“I don’t know,” Tzuyu sighs. “Something meaningful?”

“I doubt any meaningful conversation can come out of a Gala held for politicians,” she replies. Mina’s eyes widen.

 _“Oop,_ ” Nayeon says through the intercom. _“This is more entertaining than Keeping Up with The Kims.”_

A knife could cut through the air right now. Mina bites the inside of her cheek to keep herself from grimacing, and Tzuyu’s stare is completely blank for what feels like centuries — until she throws her head back and _laughs_. Mina blinks back her surprise and Jeongyeon smirks, lopsided. 

“Very well,” Tzuyu says after her laughter dies down. “I’m wearing Chanel and Bonnebouche.”

Jeongyeon doesn’t have time to respond; the room erupts into applause before she can, and Mina glances at the stage, where the orchestra is bowing goodbye. The announcer steps on stage then, all smiles.

“Thank you so much to the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra for playing for us tonight,” he says, and the crowd breaks into another set of soft, appreciative applause. “Our next performer is a bit of an Urban Legend. You might’ve heard of her before from several other Political Galas where she performed. Please welcome Miss Lee Yoojung!”

A few seconds later Nayeon steps onto the stage. The lights dim slightly like she’s someone important — and she must be, JYP only chooses the best identities after all — and yet Mina wants to scoff at the sight of her on stage, lights casting a bright light over her, her pink dress coming almost a shade of pale pastel pink under them.

“Thank you for the warm welcome,” she says. “This is a song I wrote a while ago.”

The first notes of a calming song play. Nayeon’s voice is sweet, softer, and higher than expected. It reminds Mina of the color pink, of rose petals, of candy. She doesn’t listen to the lyrics, doesn’t really bother. It’s no surprise that Nayeon sings well, but it always feels like Mina’s discovering something new about her, one by one peeling off a layer of her existence, although it always feels like she ends up never really knowing anything about her. Like she’s a book full of unfinished chapters, hastily written, like Mina skips words just to get to the ending.

Without meaning to, her eyes land on the stage where Nayeon is, and their eyes meet for a fraction of a second before she remembers they are both on a mission. Mina looks away, feeling slightly embarrassed. 

Instead, her eyes land on Tzuyu’s bodyguards — four men, who seemingly begin to look slightly uneasy. She frowns slightly when three of them walk away. Making sure Tzuyu is paying more attention to Jeongyeon than her, she whispers into her intercom.

“Jihyo, why did you start the distraction? I thought you would wait for my command.”

 _“I didn’t,”_ Jihyo replies, confused. _“I was waiting for the keyword.”_

“The bodyguards just left...” Mina trails off, realization settling into her bones.

 _“Shit,”_ Chaeyoung murmurs.

 _“The mission has been compromised,”_ Jihyo states, her voice growing more serious. Mina tenses, cursing under her breath. _“We’re not alone. I repeat, the mission has been compromised.”_

 _“What do we do?”_ Sana asks.

“This is politics, this is worse than drug lords or Yakuza bosses,” Mina comments, swallowing back the anxious lump that forms inside her throat.

 _“We jump ship,”_ Dahyun announces. _“Leave the location now. Chaeyoung is still in the alley waiting for you. Remove yourselves before the situation escalates.”_

Jeongyeon’s and Mina’s gazes meet and silently agree that they need to leave _now_.

“Well, it’s been a pleasure, but I should interview a few other people,” Jeongyeon announces, interrupting Tzuyu mid-sentence. “Thank you for your time, Miss Chou.”

Tzuyu looks annoyed to be interrupted but also glad that the interview is over.

She nods at Jeongyeon. “My pleasure.”

Mina waits until Jeongyeon walks away to clear her throat and address Tzuyu. “I should mingle as well,” Mina smiles at her. “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

Now Tzuyu just looks confused.

“It was a pleasure as well,” she says. “I do hope we can catch up more though, Miss Kim…?”

Mina nods, uneasiness growing on the pit of her stomach, urging her to get out of there.

“Absolutely.”

Mina walks away, doing her best to remain calm. It comes easy to her after years of managing her emotions, but something about the whole thing seems off. She finds Jeongyeon in the crowd waiting for her, her body tense, ready to reach for her gun if necessary. 

“What are you doing?” she asks. “We need to leave.”

“I saw something,” Jeongyeon says, as Nayeon stops singing and the crowd breaks into applause.

“What?”

“I’m afraid that’s all I have for you today...” Nayeon announces, and Mina drowns out the rest of it as she follows Jeongyeon’s gaze.

A man in a black tuxedo, walking up to Tzuyu. Mina sees the outline of a gun on his jacket.

“We have to leave,” Mina insists, turning to look at Jeongyeon. She pulls at her arm, but Jeongyeon doesn’t move, even as Nayeon steps off the stage.

 _“Where are you?”_ Jihyo asks. _“Sana and I have already left. State your locations.”_

“Jeongyeon, _now_.”

“They are approaching the target,” Jeongyeon says into the intercom. “The target is unprotected. Her bodyguards are gone except for one.”

 _“That’s not our problem,”_ Jihyo states, matter-of-factly.

Mina feels something akin to panic crawl inside of her when Jeongyeon shakes her head. “We have to do something,” she says.

 _“You know protocol,”_ Dahyun says, disapproval on the tip of her tongue. _“We can’t compromise your identities. We’ll ignore the threat. Remove yourself, now.”_

“Fuck the protocol,” Jeongyeon says, and Mina watches her dive into the crowd before Mina can stop her. “He’s going to kill her!”

 _Shit, shit, shit._

“Jeongyeon — !”

“Gun!” Someone yells. “He has a gun!”

Mina barely has any time to breathe or curse as the room erupts into chaos, screams filling the air, pushing bodies leading her away from where Jeongyeon is. There’s too many people to push through the crowd; instead, she’s pushed to the back and loses sight of Jeongyeon.

A gunshot pierces through the air. Mina hears Tzuyu’s bloodshot scream and Mina’s blood runs cold. Jeongyeon, she has to find her, she has to — 

“Fuck!” She hears Nayeon curse, and suddenly Mina’s hand is being pulled and she’s face to face with Nayeon, forehead shining with sweat, hand steady. For a second she’s too confused to realize Nayeon’s pulled her away from the crowd until she starts speaking through the intercom. “I have eyes on Jeongyeon and the target! ”

Mina doesn’t have time to focus on Nayeon or their intertwined hands, instead her eyes follow to where her eyes are, and finds Jeongyeon. She’s pulled out her gun and is hovering over a man's body, shielding Tzuyu who seems to be unharmed. A pool of bright red blood stains the marble floor and Jeongyeon's heels as she isnpects the unkown man's body.

Tzuyu’s bodyguard’s dead body lays a few feet away from them, a hole inside his head, and Tzuyu flinches away from the body.

Nayeon sighs in relief, finally letting go of Mina’s hand. 

“Jeongyeon and the target are both alive and unharmed,” she announces. “Jeongyeon took the gunman down.”

She can almost picture Sana placing her hand on her heart when she says, “ _Oh thank God.”_

 _“I assume our identities have been compromised,”_ Jihyo sighs. _“But I’m glad everybody is okay.”_

Nayeon and Mina walk to where Jeongyeon is, and Mina notices how Tzuyu is pressed to Jeongyeon’s back, with Jeongyeon’s hand wrapped to reach her back and keep her in place. Blood is sprinkled on the ends of Jeongyeon’s sleeves.

“Sharon, I—” Tzuyu begins, but Nayeon interrupts her quickly, addressing Jeongyeon.

“Did he say anything?”

“Nothing,” Jeongyeon replies. “I couldn’t question him. He shot her bodyguard and I terminated him before he could shoot her."

"I don't believe it had anything to do with us," Mina shakes her head. "Nobody recognized us."

"Maybe it had to do with politics," Jeongyeon offers. "I’m not _that_ updated on the state of Taiwanese politics, but I’d imagine the president would have plenty of enemies.”

Tzuyu lets go of Jeongyeon, stepping away.

“What is…?”

“Dahyun,” Mina says through the intercom, “Did you see anything suspicious in the cameras?”

 _“Not specifically,”_ she replies, _“I saw a woman speaking with the bodyguards and most of them left. Other than that, nothing else. I couldn’t see her face, but I assumed it was Jihyo.”_

 _“Something’s strange is going on...”_ Sana murmurs. _“I don’t like this. Come back, girls.”_

“I agree,” Mina says. “We should leave.”

“What should we do?” Jeongyeon asks, then points at Tzuyu, who has fallen to the group in shock. “We can’t leave her here.”

“Yes, we can,” Nayeon shrugs. 

“Nayeon!”

“What? We were supposed to steal her necklace, not save her life,” she continues. “I say we leave her here. We can’t just _take_ the President’s daughter, are you crazy? Everyone will be looking for her.”

“Mina, you agree with me, right?” Jeongyeon asks, tucking her gun inside her pants pocket. “We can’t leave her here. Once they hear that she’s not dead they’ll come back for her.”

Mina’s inclined to agree just to piss Nayeon off. Still, she thinks Nayeon might be objectively right.

“We should ask the rest,” she settles on saying. 

_“We take her to Momo,”_ Chaeyoung says. _“She’ll know what to do. Hell, JYP probably even knows the President.”_

 _“Agreed,”_ Sana agrees. “ _I don’t feel right leaving her behind._ ”

 _“It’s too risky,”_ Dahyun says, probably shaking her head at them from base. _“We leave her. If we take her, we’ll be revealing our identity to her.”_

Jihyo hums for a second, deep in thought, then says, _“I think we should let Momo know what happened so she can contact the mother branch. They’ll need to contact the Hong Kong provider, I think it’s best to take Tzuyu back to base. Maybe we can negotiate protection in exchange for the necklace. JYP should choose.”_

“I think that’s the most sensible thing to do as well,” Mina nods.

“Two against five, we win,” Jeongyeon announces. She turns to look at Tzuyu, who is still cowering on the floor, flinching as far away from the blood as she can. Suddenly Jeongyeon seems to grow more awkward as she leans down to speak to her, still managing to sound soft. “Hey… we need to take you somewhere safe.”

“Who are you?” Tzuyu asks, her eyes scared. 

“Friends,” Mina says, extending her hand to help her up. “You should come with us. He won’t be the only one waiting for you.”

“How do you know I can trust you?”

“You don’t,” Nayeon says. “But we’re your best bet right now. For all you know, all your bodyguards are dead. You’re unprotected.”

Tzuyu stares at her hand for a long time. Jeongyeon senses her unease and nods slightly when Tzuyu’s eyes involuntarily look for hers. “It’s okay,” she reassures her. “We don’t want to hurt you.” 

It seems that Tzuyu trusts Jeongyeon, because she takes Mina’s hand then. 

Nayeon nods once. “Let’s go.”

Momo blinks at them.

“I thought you guys would _only_ bring the necklace.”

“The mission was compromised,” Jihyo announces, as Sana guides Tzuyu to sit on the couch, and Jeongyeon sits beside her and urges everyone to give her space. “Someone tried to assassinate Miss Chou before we could even begin the operation.”

Momo’s gaze hardens. “So you brought her here. You compromised the Agency.”

“I made them,” Jeongyeon clears her throat, standing up from the couch. “I saw the hitman approaching and she had no protection, so I made the decision to step in. I know I didn’t follow protocol, but —"

“You’ll have to explain this to the mother branch,” Momo interrupts. “And our client.”

“My necklace? Client...?” Tzuyu murmurs, looking around the room. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“Well...” Dahyun emerges from the elevator, laptop in hand. “We were trying to steal your _Diamant Parfait_. By the way, do you still have the fake one, Jeongyeon?”

“Yeah,” Jeongyeon searches for it on her jacket pocket and pulls it out. 

“My necklace!” Tzuyu exclaims, although she touches her neck and finds hers intact.

"Perfect replica," Dahyun winks, taking it from Jeongyeon's hands.

Jeoongyeon turns to Momo, “As Jihyo said, we didn’t have the time to switch them. Mina alerted that the distraction had happened earlier than expected and when we left, I identified an armed man and decided to take him out.”

“Jeongie stopped him,” Sana says, an unusually serious expression on her face. “She did the right thing.”

“The moral thing is not always the right thing to do, especially when you're secret agents, Sana,” Momo replies, turning to look at Jihyo. “Jihyo, a word.”

Jihyo swallows, but otherwise steps out of the room with Momo.

“You think Jeongyeon just lost her two months of paid vacation?” Nayeon asks, staring at her nails.

Jeongyeon sighs. “I’m dead.”

“You are _not_ ,” Chaeyoung reassures her. “You’re too valuable. I’m sure Momo will come up with something to save your ass.”

“I hope so...”

“You were going to steal my necklace?” Tzuyu asks weakly to no one in particular. Mina notices the streaks of mascara staining her cheeks.

“Yeah,” Chaeyoung cringes. “For a client, you know. Nothing personal.”

“Client? What is this place? Some kind of criminal organization?”

When Sana opens her mouth to respond, Momo and Jihyo step back into the room. Jihyo’s expression looks the same as when she left, but she doesn’t look disappointed or sad, which is always a good sign.

"We're not criminals," Momo replies. "We're a private organization of various... _talents_."

"Like stealing?"

"Best in the business," Sana smiles brightly at Tzuyu.

“JYP wants to speak with us,” Momo announces, placing her phone on the counter. The screen lights blue for a second. “And he has company.”

The phone glows bright blue and in a second, it projects a hologram. Tzuyu gasps slightly, as the face of a man becomes clear, one that Mina can’t quite recognize. JYP’s voice rings through the phone’s speakers.

“TWICE,” he greets.

“Hello, sir,” the girls greet in unison. 

Tzuyu jumps to her feet once she recognizes the face of the hologram.

“Dad!”

“Chou Tzuyu,” he sighs in relief, “You’re okay.”

“Dad, I don’t know what’s going on or what happened! Someone tried to—”

“I know, it’s all over the news,” he replies. “People think they kidnapped you.”

Tzuyu lets a sob escape her. “I wanted to contact you, but my phone was in the car, and everything happened so _quickly_ , I had to escape.”

“No, it’s better this way,” Nayeon interrupts. “They can’t track your phone signal and you can be completely disconnected while someone else manages your public accounts. We’ll give you a new one.”

“Agent Im is correct,” JYP says, nodding. “It’s better that way.”

“I understand one of these ladies rescued you,” he says, and all eyes fall on Jeongyeon, whose sleeves are still stained with blood splatters.

“Yoo Jeongyeon,” JYP says, and Jeongyeon stands up, tense and mostly out of reflex. “Agent Hirai said you saved Miss Chou.”

Jeongyeon swallows. “Yes, I—”

“Good job,” he says. “You did the right thing.”

“I owe you all for saving my daughter,” the President says. “But I’m afraid that won’t be the last attack directed at her. For the past month we’ve been receiving reports of an organization our homeland security team cannot identify, who’s been threatening her safety in Korea.”

“What kind of threats?” Jihyo asks.

“All kinds,” he continues. “They've been threatening that they'd kill her if I didn't meet this organization at a random location. I didn't, of course, so that’s why there was extra security at the events.”

“It doesn’t make sense that half of her bodyguards would leave on the threat of a strange car knowing the kind of danger Miss Chou was under...” Mina murmurs, resting her hand under her chin.

“That’s why we think a few of the security officials in charge of Miss Chou’s safety are corrupt,” JYP adds, a stern frown on his face. 

“That is the reason I’m reaching out to TWICE and JYP,” Tzuyu’s father speaks once again. “I can't trust anyone, but I need to protect my daughter. She’s not safe even with my closest advisors. I need you to catch the men who want to hurt her.”

“What about the Diamant Parfait mission?” Dahyun wonders aloud.

“I’ll speak to the client,” JYP replies sternly. “This mission is of greater importance. Find this organization and its motive, and keep Miss Chou safe. Agent Yoo, I assign you as Miss Chou’s bodyguard. You’ll have to have eyes on her 24/7.”

“Copy that, sir,” Jeongyeon nods, her eyes drifting to Tzuyu’s frame on the couch.

“Agents Minatozaki and Park,” JYP addresses them, “I want you on the nearest flight to Taiwan. You’ll speak with Mister Chou.”

“Understood.”

“Agent Kim and Son, go over every single threat that’s been made against Miss Chou,” he commands, “Go over everything.”

“On it!” Chaeyoung exclaims, already sitting down next to her computer.

“And Agent Myoui, you and Agent Im need to find out whatever you can about the hitman you saw tonight. Ask questions. Learn who he was.”

Out of all people… her and Nayeon are the worst combination he could ever think of. Nayeon doesn’t look at her or even acknowledge the assignment altogether, so it’s Mina’s job to agree, despite wanting to groan out loud.

“Yes, sir.”

“Miss Chou, you’ll be staying with us in the meantime,” JYP addresses the President’s daughter, who is now wearing a stone-cold look on her face. “My girls will take care of you.”

“Listen to him, Tzuyu,” the President says, “Do as they say. They are here to help us.”

“Yes, father,” she replies.

“Momo,” JYP says, “We should talk in private.”

“Yes, sir,” Momo gives them one last look before she takes her phone and disappears into another room.

There’s a moment of silence where no one says anything, but then Jihyo sighs and clasps her hands together and looks at the time on her wrist. “It’s two AM. We should all rest, we have a lot to do tomorrow. Especially you, Miss Chou.”

Jeongyeon nods. “Yes, you should try to sleep.”

Tzuyu nods too, the tension on her shoulders more pronounced every second. “Okay.”

“You can sleep in my dorm,” Jeongyeon says as she stands up, waiting for Tzuyu to do the same. “I have a few oversized shirts you can use.”

Tzuyu doesn’t reply to that this time, instead choosing to follow Jeongyeon. Mina does as well, climbing into the elevator wordlessly. Nayeon does as well, for some reason that escapes Mina. Maybe she’s just tired.

The ride to the dorms is quiet. Even Jeongyeon and Nayeon who are usually talkative don’t say a word. Failed missions always leave them in a somber mood. For some reason she thinks back on the mission Sana mentioned to Chaeyoung yesterday, when they drove back home listening to Sana’s favorite song.

They arrive after a few minutes, and Jeongyeon guides Tzuyu to her dorm, right next to Mina’s. She follows them both just to make sure neither of them is hurt, and when Tzuyu sits down on Jeongyeon’s — unusually — fluffy bed, she follows suit to inspect her face.

"I'll check for wounds," she explains.

Jeongyeon looks through her drawers for a while until she finds what she’s using for bed, and then tosses some more clothes next to Tzuyu's figure on the bed.

“Should I get the Emergency kit?” Jeongyeon asks. "I have one in the bathroom."

After a few seconds, Mina shakes her head. “No. She’s okay.”

"Okay, good," Jeongyeon nods, then addresses Tzuyu. “I left a change of clothes on the bed if you want them.”

Tzuyu nods as Jeongyeon disappears into the bathroom, and Mina finally stands up, ready to leave. But before she can, Tzuyu grabs her by the hand.

“What’s your name?" she asks. "It’s not Sharon, is it?”

Mina shakes her head again. “No. I’m Mina. But… my middle name is Sharon.”

Tzuyu doesn’t say anything to that. She lets go of Mina’s hand, and as she’s turning the door handle to leave, Jeongyeon emerges from the bathroom with makeup wipes and with her pajamas on.

“You can sleep on the bed, Tzuyu,” she tells her.

“Where are you staying?”

“Oh, probably at one of the girl’s dorms—”

“Can you not—” Tzuyu starts, then clears her throat once she hears how shaky her own voice sounds. “Do you mind staying, please?”

Jeongyeon doesn’t even hesitate. “Okay.”

“I’m being irrational," she sounds embarrassed. "You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she hears Jeongyeon say. She sounds a bit awkward, but even Mina finds her voice reassuring. “It’s been… scary. So it’s understandable if you’re scared. I’ll stay.”

Tzuyu takes a few seconds to respond. Then, “Thank you.”

It feels a bit more than just a _thank you for letting me sleep on the bed_ , and rather more of a _thank you for saving my life_. She sees Jeongyeon nod, and then Mina decides to let her get ready for bed in peace, and so she closes the door to Jeongyeon’s dorm and steps outside.

Mina waits in the hallway, where Nayeon is as well, to see if Jeongyeon needs anything else. Her arms are crossed, looking bored and restless, and she doesn’t say anything to Mina, doesn’t even look at her. There’s an itch growing in the pit of Mina’s stomach, wondering if she should thank Nayeon or not for helping her earlier.

On one hand, it’s hard to even look her in the eye, much less _thank_ her when she’s done nothing but make Mina’s life slightly harder every day ever since she was recruited. She doesn’t want to fuel her ego. But hearing just then Tzuyu reminded her that she does owe her a thank you at least.

“Thanks,” she says aloud, and she tells herself it's just because she doesn’t want to live with the guilt of being ungrateful. “For helping me tonight.”

Nayeon turns to her, expression unreadable. Mina wants to sigh, but she bites the inside of her cheek.

“We work together,” Nayeon shrugs. “Don’t think much about it.”

Mina nods quietly and focuses on the quiet sound of Jeongyeon picking her things from her dorm to drown out the disappointment that she feels rising like a tide. Jeongyeon emerges after a few minutes, toothbrush and soap in hand, still wearing her pajamas. She’s wearing her squirrel slippers and for the first time since they got back, Mina allows herself to smile.

“She’s asleep,” Jeongyeon announces.

“You wanna stay over my dorm?” Nayeon asks, pointing at it with her thumb.

“Nah,” she shakes her head. “Thanks though. I’ll stay with her. My floor is kinda comfy, you know.”

“Suit yourself,” Nayeon shrugs.

When Nayeon leaves for her dorm, Jeongyeon turns to Mina, who’s staring at the ground, thinking about their newest mission. She wonders just how on Earth she's going to work with Nayeon in peace.

“Hey, Mina? You okay?”

“Yeah,” she shakes her head, giving her friend a small smile. “Just tried. Today was a bit weird.”

“The President’s daughter is sleeping in my room right now,” Jeongyeon snorts. “You’re telling me.”

Mina decides to go downstairs before tucking in. Jihyo and Sana are still going over the footage on Dahyun’s computer, focusing on the last moments before the hitman appears. Sana’s legs are sprawled on Jihyo’s lap, her head on a couch pillow.

“Where’s Dubchaeng?” she asks, sitting down next to Jihyo.

“Making microwave popcorn. You haven’t gone to bed yet?” Jihyo asks when Mina sits down next to them, and immediately starts stroking Mina’s hair, sleepy and disarmed. She sighs in appreciation.

“Nope,” she replies. “I thought I’d look over the footage with you guys before bed.”

Jihyo yawns just then. “Then is it okay if I clock in? I’m exhausted.”

“Yeah, of course!” Sana nods, pushing her legs off of Jihyo’s lap. “To be honest I’m happy you are asking. You haven’t been sleeping well these past few days...”

Mina frowns slightly. “How do you know?”

“Jihyo sleeps over at my dorm sometim—”

“Goodnight!” Jihyo’s blushing figure disappears faster than Mina can start giggling.

Sana pouts at the door. “Hmph. She really does love me, you know.”

“I do,” Mina nods. Jihyo is just allergic to displays of affection. Figures that she has a soft spot for the most affectionate person Mina’s ever known.

The next few minutes, they spend them looking over the footage with half-lidded eyes. Sana rests her head on Mina’s shoulder and Mina swears she’s fallen asleep until she hears her speak.

“Did you notice that…?” 

“What?” Mina asks, squinting at the footage.

“Nothing,” she shakes her head. Mina follows her gaze all the way back to the security camera footage, landing on the man’s neck. In the dark, Mina can make out the markings of a dragon tattoo.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i dont follow one hair era i just use whiever hairstyle i like best god bless  
> hashtag is #TwiceKillerInstinct if anyone want to use it hehe

**Author's Note:**

> #TwiceKillerInstinct  
> follow me on twitter queens gays and emo kids [@seratoninz](https://twitter.com/seratoninz)


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